Editorial

One hundred years ago, on the 11 November 1918, an Armistice was signed between the Allies of World War I and the German Empire at Compiegne, France, to cease hostilities with effect from 11 AM — the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”. The Great War was over, with an estimated 16 million deaths, including 9 million civilians. More than 60,000 Australians lost their lives and 137,000 were wounded. Throughout 1919, Australian troops were repatriated back home, with the last troops arriving in early 1920. Our themes for the 2019 issues of the Journal are Recovery, Repatriation and Rehabilitation, in recognition of the ongoing health needs of the troops post World War I and over the last 100 years. Recovery, repatriation and rehabilitation remain a critical part of military health planning. We would welcome any articles in these areas in the coming year.

The sheer numbers of casualties from the two World Wars were staggering, with the best estimates of the number of deaths in World War II, including civilians, being between 58 and 60 million. Australia had 27,073 of its military personnel killed and 23,477 wounded. The ferocity of these ‘total wars’, their casualty numbers and the sacrifices made by both the military and civilians are increasingly being forgotten by the general population, as the years pass and these wars seem more and more like ancient history. The Journal welcomes any historical articles that puts military healthcare over the last 100 years into context and provides lessons for Defence health in coming years.

Our fourth issue of 2018 primarily addresses the abstracts of papers presented at the 27th AMMA Conference. There are also three excellent articles – one on acceptance and commitment and group therapy in the military, a further installment of the historical articles on Navy health sailor uniforms, and an article on images of service and sacrifice.

If you are presenting a paper or poster at the Conference, we would welcome their submission to JMVH for inclusion in a later issue. Although we continue to get a good range of articles, other military and veterans’ health articles are always very welcome and we would encourage all our readers to consider writing on their areas of military or veterans’ health interest.